Saltcoats Victoria 2 Irvine Victoria 7
Dougie MacDuff reckons his players did Irvine Vics proud as the club regained the Sheena Thomson Memorial Trophy in style on Saturday.
The Westenders embarked on a scoring spree in Saltcoats as they completed their preparations for next weekend's big kick-off in the West of Scotland League.
Strike star Kevin Adam helped himself to a hat-trick with his team in seventh heaven by the time they were presented with a piece of silverware which means a lot to both these clubs.
Boss MacDuff acknowledged that motivation was not a problem with Irvine determined to avenge last summer's 2-1 defeat to Saltcoats on their own patch.
He told Ayrshire Football News: "It's fantastic to win and a relief to know that we can come here and perform. In the league, we will need to perform every week to do better than we did last season.
"We spoke about winning the trophy all week. We wanted to give a good account of ourselves and I don't think we let ourselves down.
"I told the players at half-time to just go out and enjoy it and we knocked the ball about well. I've got a few options in attack so there is a fight for the jerseys."
He added: "It was a massive turnaround last season but we finished the season, and fulfilled our fixtures, then put a plan in place for this season. Hopefully we've laid the foundations and can continue the good work we've been doing."
Irvine opened the scoring in the first minute with Lewis McCracken on target but the hosts equalised midway through the opening stanza when Donald Bell's low ball was turned home by a Trialist.
Two goals in just three minutes before the break from Adam put Irvine back in control and they added another three in the space of 11 minutes in the second half.
Appeals for offside were turned down as John McLaughlan stroked home and he converted again from an Adam through ball with Shane Jackson rifling a sixth into the roof of the net soon after.
In the 77th minute, Connor MacAulay touched home for Saltcoats to make it 6-2 but Adam had the final word five minutes from time when he completed his hat-trick following good play by Jackson.
Adam said: "I'd known Sheena for 14 years. What a woman she was, she never missed anything. I'm delighted we've managed to win it again for her. It meant a lot to us."
Saltcoats gaffer Derek Frye added: "We're missing too many chances. It could have been three-each at half-time."
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